New Delhi: Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the government is likely to approve this month a proposal that will entitle formal sector workers a minimum monthly pension of Rs 1,000, immediately benefiting 27 lakh pensioners.
Those who get less than Rs 1,000 a month include 22 lakh member pensioners and 5 lakh widows as on March 31, 2013. There are about 44 lakh pensioners.
“The Labour Ministry's revised proposal for minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month was submitted to the Finance Ministry last week, and is likely to be approved this month,” said an official source.
The ministry's proposal to assure minimum pension of Rs 1,000 under the Employees' Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95), run by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), is pending for a long time.
Earlier, the ministry had proposed that the government should increase its subsidy on the scheme from 1.16 per cent of the basic wages to 1.79 per cent to assure the minimum pension amount of Rs 1,000 per month.
